Open the restart with pair of games this weekend
The National Basketball Association officially returned Thursday night with a pair of games. Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz defeated the New Orleans Pelicans and LeBron James led his Los Angeles Lakers to a 2-point win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Dallas Mavericks take on the Houston Rockets in their first game Friday night.
The Dallas Mavericks who enter the final eight games of their season with a record of 40-27, need just one more win to officially clinch a playoff berth for themselves. Mavs fans would love nothing more than for this win to come against their in-state rival Houston Rockets, and the Rockets will be without one of their best players, shooting guard Eric Gordon.
After the Rockets game, Dallas has back-to-back games against a pair of teams who are under .500, the Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings. The game against the Suns is Sunday at 8 p.m. and is a perfect opportunity for Dallas to pick up a win. Phoenix is currently eight games behind the eight seed Grizzlies and have very little chance of actually competing for the final playoff spot in the western conference.
Next Dallas will face Sacramento at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Kings enter the restart of the league with a record of 28-36 and a solid chance of fighting for a playoff spot. The Kings are just 3.5 games behind Memphis for the eight seed and are as healthy as any team in the league. Dallas is 2-1 against Sacramento this season, losing its first matchup against them back in December, but beating them 127-123 on Jan. 15 and blowing them out 130-111 on Feb. 12. Young star Luka Doncic was the leading scorer in each of the Mavericks wins against the Kings and will certainly be who Dallas relies on to keep the offense going.
Dallas is trying to do a lot more than just clinch a playoff spot, as they have the chance to climb all the way from their current spot as the seventh seed in the conference to the fourth seed. The Mavericks are just half a game behind the six seed rockets, 1.5 games behind the five seed Oklahoma City Thunder and three games behind the four seed Jazz.
If the Mavericks can climb even one spot and avoid having to play the Clippers in the opening round of the playoffs, many think that Dallas would have a strong chance to win at least one playoff series this year. Dallas hasn’t won a playoff series since they won the NBA Finals in 2011 and haven’t been to the playoffs since 2016.